 MILFORD, Del. - Bayhealth Hospital wants people to know it is safe to come to the emergency room if you are suffering with a medical emergency that is not coronavirus-related.
People with true medical emergencies across the country are avoiding ER's because of the virus.Â
Bayhealth's Medical Director of Emergency Services, Dr. Kelly Abbrescia, says people in emergency medicine across the nation, "started saying where are all the strokes? Where are all the heart attacks? What happened? Just because people are at home in isolation does not mean they aren't having these medical emergencies."
Bayhealth has seen strokes, heart attacks, and bone injuries go uncared for for days.
"As the director, I would hear 'oh this person who came in who's having chest pain 4 days ago, probably had a heart attack, and now he's in heart failure' ... I know for a fact there have been some very bad outcomes, and even possibly some deaths because people didn't want to come in or were afraid to come in ... The most important thing is that it's safe to come in, if you need medical care," says Dr. Abbrescia.Â
She says even if you have stomach pains or a fall, do not be afraid to go to the emergency room. Dr. Abbrescia has expressed concern that people are not coming in when they should.
"We've even had people once they're here not wanting to stay in the hospital because they don't want to be admitted ... We are available, we are here, we are safe. We will support you, we will support your families," she says.
But Bayhealth is taking plenty of precautions to keep COVID and non-COVID related cases completely separate.
"We have separate waiting areas. We have separate complete areas of the emergency department, separate care teams. We have face masks available, as soon as you walk in the door you're greeted as soon as you get here, we have hand sanitizer. and we are doing everything to keep us safe and the public safe," she says.